Monday, January 2, 2017

The haunted Dundas Castle in New York

Dundas Castle, also known as Craig-E-Clair Castle, was built in 1924 in Roscoe, New York, in the forests of the Catskill Mountains. Before it became a castle, it was a summer lodge built by architect Bradford Lee Gilbert in the early 1880’s. The name Craig-E-Clair came from the homonymous Scottish town, probably because of his wife who was of Scottish decent.

After Gilbert passed away in 1911, the land and lodge was sold first to Maurice Sternbeck, and then to of Ralph Wurts-Dundas in 1915. Dudas began the construction of the castle but he died in 1921 while it was in the final stages of construction. In 1922 his wife, Josephine Wurts-Dundas, was committed to a sanatarium, without ever having lived in the castle. The castle was inherited by her daughter, however a large part of her fortune was stolen by the castle care-takers who acted as her guardian at the time. Eventually she got married and moved to England only to be soon committed into a mental institution just like her mother.

Meawhile, the Dundas Castle went through various owners. It became a summer camp for children and then it was bought by the area’s Masonic chapter as a retreat. Soon though, the Masons, who still own the structure, abandoned it and let it be heavily vandalized.

There have been many legends about the abandoned Dundas castle. Some say that the ghost of Josephine Dundas haunts the castle to this day, looring strangers inside the abandoned property. Others say that the three heart-shaped ponds on the property fill with blood on the full moon.

In 2001 the Dundas Castle was added to the National Register of Historic Places.